Tactics may put Oakland police at a disadvantage

Observers say police restraint may be encouraging violence

Demian Bulwa

Updated 11:52 am, Friday, July 19, 2013

Oakland police officers extinguish a garbage can fire on Telegraph Avenue after protesters vandalized stores downtown in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin on Saturday.
Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Oakland police officers extinguish a garbage can fire on Telegraph...

Sara Mizner was among demonstrators in downtown Oakland on Tuesday.
Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Sara Mizner was among demonstrators in downtown Oakland on Tuesday.

A protester at a demonstration against the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial stands among police officers on the corner of 14th Street and Broadway in Oakland on Sunday.
Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

A protester at a demonstration against the verdict in the George...

Pastor Preston Walker speaks with police on the sidewalk near 14th and Broadway in downtown Oakland on Tuesday night.
Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Pastor Preston Walker speaks with police on the sidewalk near 14th...

A man is arrested for a felony warrant at Frank Ogawa Plazan ear 14th and Broadway on Tuesday night. About 50 people upset with the verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman gathered in downtown Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, July 16, 2013, after Zimmerman's acquittal the previous Saturday on charges in the death of Trayvon Martin.
Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

A man is arrested for a felony warrant at Frank Ogawa Plazan ear...

The executive director at Youth Radio Richard Raya stands in front of the broken boarded up windows of their building in Oakland, Calif on Tuesday July 16, 2013, which were damaged during a third night of protests in the case of George Zimmerman being found not guilty in the Trayvon Martin killing in Florida.
Photo: Michael Macor, San Francisco Chronicle

The executive director at Youth Radio Richard Raya stands in front...

A sign posted inside the Dogwood Cafe on the corner of 17th st. and Telegraph in Oakland, Calif on Tuesday July 16, 2013, after a third night of protests in the case of George Zimmerman being found not guilty in the Trayvon Martin killing in Florida.
Photo: Michael Macor, San Francisco Chronicle

A sign posted inside the Dogwood Cafe on the corner of 17th st. and...

Paramedics bring a gurney into Flora Restaurant to treat a server who had been injured by protesters on Monday night. People upset with the verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman marched in downtown Oakland, Calif., on Monday, July 15, 2013, after Zimmerman's acquittal the previous Saturday on charges in the death of Trayvon Martin.
Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Paramedics bring a gurney into Flora Restaurant to treat a server...

Protesters disrupt traffic on I-880 above Webster Street on July 15, 2013 in Oakland California. Riots of varying size have occured in the area for the past three nights since George Zimmerman was found not guilty in the killing of Trayvon Martin.
Photo: Tamara De Jong

Protesters disrupt traffic on I-880 above Webster Street on July...

At the Awaken Cafe, diners worked on their computers as the vandalism was apparent on Broadway Monday July 15, 2013. In downtown Oakland, Calif. many businesses had plywood on their storefronts and broken glass as merchants cleaned up after a weekend of protest and vandalism over the Trayvon Martin verdict.
Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

At the Awaken Cafe, diners worked on their computers as the...

A worker removes the smashed out windows at Dogwood on Telegraph Avenue after protesters set fires and vandalized stores in downtown Oakland.

A worker removes the smashed out windows at Dogwood on Telegraph...

Protesters amass at 17th Street and Telegraph Avenue as they set fires and vandalized stores in downtown Oakland.

The atmosphere was calm as demonstrators streamed through downtown Oakland. Then a masked figure emerged from the crowd with a hammer and smashed the windows of a Comerica Bank branch.

No police officers were nearby, and the vandal slipped into the mass of people. But something had changed. In the next half-hour, the Monday night rally over the acquittal of George Zimmerman turned ugly, with police skirmishes, more broken windows and a hammer attack on a waiter.

As Oakland again struggles to keep such episodes from scarring its downtown, city leaders and outside experts point to a core problem: the understaffed police force's inability to control subsets of agitators and simultaneously ensure the free-speech rights of peaceful protesters.

The failure to arrest the person who smashed the bank window at 10:30 p.m. was pivotal, said Don Cameron, who teaches police tactics. The attack, he said, was an overt act designed to incite.

"When you get into the copycat phase, it can get to a point where (police) can't take control," said Cameron, a former officer for Berkeley and BART. "I don't think Oakland buys into that - that you have to respond to the first overt action. What I've seen in the past is they let it get out of hand before they take action."

'Poor management'

City Councilman Noel Gallo said the police force, which has been led by four chiefs since 2009, was unprepared for this week's protests.

"It's just poor management," said Gallo, who chairs the council's Public Safety Committee. "The protesters are better organized than our Police Department."

While saying the problem traced largely to severe understaffing - Oakland has 630 officers, down from 837 in December 2008 - interim Police Chief Sean Whent promises to be more assertive if there's trouble this weekend. Another protest is planned Saturday.

Whent and Mayor Jean Quan are under intense pressure from business owners to calm protests and make more arrests. Police arrested nine people Monday night after making no arrests during rallies Saturday and Sunday. Some merchants say they are bringing in private security guards.

Whent, who became acting chief in May, said he would put more officers on the streets by canceling days off and paying overtime. He may also call for mutual aid from outside agencies, as he did late Monday.

One of his goals is to avoid a repeat of that night, when officers were often several blocks away from protesters and, as a result, missed the hammer attack that injured a waiter at Flora restaurant on Telegraph Avenue. The assailant ran off.

"I can't really get into a lot of specifics. But, largely, we're trying to keep the police closer to the demonstrators," Whent said.

Quan said the agitators, whom she described as anarchists and "idiots," "are changing their tactics, and we need to change our tactics, too."

One veteran Oakland officer said he and his colleagues were in a terrible position during most of this week's demonstrations - understaffed and lacking a clear message from city leaders on whether to be forceful with protesters.

"San Francisco takes a very straightforward line," said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. "You're not messing with anyone's life or property, or it's over - you're going to jail."

Taking names

City officials say other changes are coming. On Tuesday, Oakland officers began issuing tickets to protesters for infractions such as jaywalking. Cameron said that appeared to be an effort to deter people from committing crimes by letting them know their presence was a matter of record.

At its July 30 meeting, the City Council will also revisit a ban on carrying hammers, shields and other potential weapons at demonstrations - a measure Whent said he supported.

The original proposal, raised last year in the midst of Occupy protests, died after council President Pat Kernighan said it might be counterproductive, providing a fresh controversy that would energize street protests just as they were tapering off.

Councilwoman Libby Schaaf said Thursday that the city had to do better, "even with our limited resources. We've got to be more prepared. If anyone should get good at responding to protests, it should be the city of Oakland."

But while Oakland has a track record in dealing with chaotic protests, such as those linked to the 2009 killing of Oscar Grant by a BART police officer, that record is rocky.

History of mistakes

Last year, a city-commissioned report criticized the department for a "flawed response" to Occupy demonstrations, citing "years of diminishing resources, increasing workload and failure to keep pace with national current standards."

During Occupy protests, officers shot beanbag rounds at people who were not posing a threat - a direct violation of the city's crowd-control policy, which the department is now updating.

As a result of that and other alleged police abuses, the City Council recently agreed to a pair of civil settlements with protesters, paying a total of about $2 million.

Rachel Lederman, an attorney with the National Lawyers Guild in San Francisco who represented some of the plaintiffs, said she continues to be concerned by police actions - including an incident Monday night in which an officer used an explosive to clear an unruly crowd.

She said the blast caused only chaos, injuring a protester.

"We don't have any problem with them arresting people who break the law," Lederman said. "But taking enforcement action on every single thing can make the situation much worse and lead to injuries."